Rotary vane pressure toilet



Aug. 20, 1968 R. T. CELLA ROTARY VANE PRESSURE TOILET Filed Feb. 4. 1966 INVENTOR IG/CHAKD 7."

ATTORNEY United States PatentO a 3,397,410 i ROTARY VANETRESSURE. TOILET Richard T. Cella, 35 Park Ave.,

,New York, NY. 10016 Filed Feb. 4, 1966, Ser. No. 525,095

2 Claims. (CL- 477)*"-' ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A mechanically operated toilet including a housing having a cylindrical chamber with a peripheral inlet opening disposed beneath the toilet bowl, a peripheral outlet opening, a rotor in said chamber having flexible radial vanes to be contacted and flexed by said wall as they ro tate, and displaced eccentrically in a direction to advance waste material with increasing pressure to said outlet opening, and a receiver having a spring loaded closure valve through which waste material from said outlet opening is forced under the pressure produced by said rotor.

This invention relates to mechanically actuated toilets and more particularly to a toilet having a rotary vane pump for evacuation.

An object is to provide a toilet of the above type which may be operated with a minimum of flush liquid.

Another object is to provide a toilet of the above type having novel and improved operating characteristics.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent as the nature of the invention is more fully disclosed.

The invention will be better understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which a specific embodiment has been set forth for purposes of illustration.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section through a toilet embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial section taken on the line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a detail of a portion of a vane in highly flexed condition; and

FIG. 4 is a similar detail view of a portion of a vane in substantially unflexed condition.

Referring to the drawing more in detail the toilet is shown as embodying a bowl 11 having a perforated pipe 12 around its upper portion for introducing rinse water or a detergent at the end of the flush cycle. The bowl 11 tapers downwardly to an opening 13 communicating with an inlet opening 14 in a pump chamber 15, formed in a housing 16. The pump chamber 15 is cylindrical in section and carries an eccentrically mounted hub 21 fixed to a shaft 22 extending through a seal 23 and driven by a motor, not shown.

The hub 21 carries a series of flexible vanes 25 which are adapted to wipe against and to be flexed by the peripheral wall 26 of the pump chamber 15 as the hub 21 rotates.

The pump chamber 15 is formed with a discharge opening 31 substantially opposite the inlet opening and the hub 21 is displaced eccentrically in the chamber 15 in a direction such that the vanes 25 are increasingly flexed by the peripheral wall 26 as they advance in the zone of decreasing clearance between the hub and peripheral wall past the outlet opening 31 so that the material which passes the inlet opening is advanced under increasing pressure by the vanes 25 and is forced under pressure through the outlet opening 31.

The vanes 25 are of a size to substantially conform to the cross-sectional area of the chamber 15 as they rotate so that any material in the chamber is positively advanced and fed by the vanes as they rotate in the chamber.

3,397,410 Patented Aug. 20, 1968 "ice In order to prevent material from becoming lodged in the recess between the hub 21 and the vanes 25 at the trailing side of the vanes, this recess is closed by collapsible bellows 3-2 which extend from the hub 21 to'the trailing side of the vanes 25 and is capable of expanding and collapsing as the vanes flex in passing around the pump chamber 15. The vanes may be made of any suitable flexible material such as thin metal or natural or synthetic rubber or of other plastic material and the bellows 32 may be made of similar material.

A receiver 41 is disposed at the outlet opening 31 of the pump chamber 15 to receive the material under the pressure exerted by the vanes 25. The receiver 41 is shown as composed of a bag the end of which is secured to a tubular valve housing 42 by cords 43. The valve housing 42 has a flange 44 which may be removably attached to the under side of the housing 16. The valve housing 42 carries a poppet valve 45 having a stem 46 slidable in a spider 47 carried by the housing 42. The valve 45 seats against a valve seat 57 and is normally held closed by a spring 48 but is adapted to be opened by the pressure exerted by the material fed by the rotating vanes 25 through the discharge opening 31. The arrangement is such that the waste material is held within the closed container from which it may be removed in any suitable manner as by removing the container to a cleaning zone.

The above described apparatus is particularly suitable for use in aircraft or in other places where large quantities of water are not readily available. In this device the flush cycle would include means for effecting operation of the motor driving the rotor vanes for a predetermined period and the introduction of a cleansing agent such as a detergent through the perforated pipe 12 for cleansing the sides of the bowl.

I claim:

1. A mechanically operated toilet comprising a bowl terminating downwardly in a discharge opening, a housing below said bowl having a chamber therein formed with a cylindrical peripheral wall disposed about a horizontal axis and having inlet and outlet openings extending through said peripheral wall at spaced points, the inlet opening being disposed in registration with the discharge opening of said bowl to receive waste material therefrom. and a rotor disposed in said chamber having a hub carrying a set of radially extending flexible vanes adapted to wipe against and be flexed by said peripheral wall as they advance for feeding said waste material from said inlet opening to said outlet opening, said hub being displaced eccentrically of said chamber in a direction such that the flexing of the said vanes increases as they advance in the zone of decreasing clearance between the hub and the peripheral wall past said outlet opening, a receiver for waste material having an inlet opening removably secure in registration with said outlet opening to receive waste material therefrom, and a spring closing inwardly opening valve disposed in the inlet opening of said receiver for closing same, said valve being openable in response to the pressure of waste material discharged through said outlet opening by the operation of said rotor.

2. A mechanically operated toilet as set forth in claim 1 in which expandable and compressible closure members are disposed between said hub and the portion of the trailing side of each vane adjacent the hub to enclose the area between the hub and the inner end of said vane and prevent waste material from becoming lodged therebetween.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 183,864 10/1876 Pohley 477 189,782 4/1877 Pohley 4-77 (Other references on following page) Leiman 103-140 Schrock 103-117 Alford 4142 Smith 103-140 Packard 103-140 Lee 477 Gross 4-77 4 Leibing et a1. 103-140 Willi 230-134 Baughman 477 Boyd et a1. 103-117 Fleming 477 LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner.

D. MASSENBERG, Assistant Examiner. 

